The Iveys were discovered by Bill Collins at The Regal Ballroom in Ammanford, South Wales on 11 March 1966 while his son's group The Mojos were performing there. In July 1966 he brought the group to London where he rented a large house in the Golders Green area for everyone to live. Once settled there, a small demo studio was set-up for the boys to write their own songs and record demos on a Sound-On-Sound 2-track reel-to-reel Revox tape recorder. Collins encouraged them all to write their own songs, however, initially, Pete Ham was creating most of the demo recordings. Ron Grifftiths eventually started writing his own songs, but Dave Jenkins never developed the ability to write an original song. Mike Gibbins was finally inspired to write some of his own songs on guitar by the time Tom Evans replaced Jenkins in the group in August 1967, and of course, Tom himself was incredibly talented musically, so songwriting came naturally to him.

As 1968 came along and The Iveys started gaining more confidence as songwriters and accumulating several demo tapes, Bill Collins invited Mal Evans and Peter Asher from Apple Publishing to attend their gig at the Marquee Club on 25 January 1968 so he could convince them to bring some demo recordings back to their bosses, The Beatles to hear. Collins gave Mal Evans the first compilation reel of demos to bring to Apple Publishing in late January. After a series of continual demos for consideration, finally a 5th reel of demos delivered to Apple by Mal on 21 May 1968 was good enough to convince holdouts Lennon and Harrison to sign The Iveys to Apple Records on 23 July 1968 and eventually to Apple Music Publishing on 31 October 1968 once the first single was being prepared for release, which appeared in the shops on 15 November.

The song chosen for the first A-side was Tom's "Maybe Tomorrow" which came from one of the earlier demo reels. At this stage, there was a piano solo in place of the eventual dramatic bridge section appearing on the final single & album releases. "I'm Too Shy" was another obvious potential candidate for a debut single, with its gorgeous 3-part harmonies. However, to this day, it is still a mystery why it was never recorded for Apple Records for even an album track. "She Came Out Of The Cold" was an early Tom & Pete collaboration which demonstrates their maturity as songwriters with its clever lyrics of a love ghost story. Demo 2 includes an extra verse not included in Demo 1. "Man Without A Heart" and "Taxi" are earlier demos with Dave Jenkins on guitar before Tom Evans replaced him. The first was written by Pete and given to Jenkins to sing lead since he wasn't able to write his own songs. The second was produced by Ray Davies of The Kinks at Maximum Sound in London on 15 January 1967.

The Ron Griffiths composition, "I Believe In You, Girl" was a song which seemed to have a lot of potential, as it was attempted several different times. The version appearing here is the most polished, recorded at Albrighton Studio in London on 18 September 1967 not long after Tom replaced Dave on guitar. From this same session is Pete Ham's uptempo number "Another Day." Another Griffths song, "Words With You" was a pleasant guitar ballad which had potential to be covered by another artist. Ron's third composition on this collection, "Tube Train," was a clever novelty song with sophisticated production for a demo recording. It includes real sounds of a subway train recorded by Pete Ham along with Ron doing different voices of what people might say during a crowded train ride. This was noted by Bill Collins as being recorded on 16 January 1968 during a 4-day break from gigs.

Mike Gibbins was not only just a great drummer, but he was also a talented songwriter who was heavily influenced by progressive and psychedelic rock. "Change Your Mind" and "She Mystifies Me" are two typical examples of this. Pete Ham wrote two songs also in the same style. The first was about a real dream that he had. "I've Been There Once Before" features Hendrix-like soaring airplane sound effects and controlled feedback played on Ham's Fender Stratocaster guitar. This demo was allegedly one that impressed John Lennon. The other song is "Clown Of The Party" which also features an impressive performance on the Fender Strat.

The last five tracks on the collection were all written and recorded in 1969. "Midnight Sun" was always intended for Ron to sing even though Pete composed it and ended up singing it on the Magic Christian Music album due to Ron's bout with the chicken pox in September. However, this demo recording feature's Ron's vocal performance. "Sad Tomorrow" is a bouncy acoustic guitar tune composed by Tom with his voice double-tracked with harmony. "John Forgot To Sing" is a hymn-like piano-based number composed by Pete with help from Tom. Composed especially for the opening sequence of the Magic Christian film is Pete and Tom's "Carry On Till Tomorrow" which features (in this demo version only) some alternate lyrics and an ending acoustic jam with Pete Ham leading the way. Closing out this collection is a special edit of the two unfinished songs written separately by Pete and Tom, "If It's Love" and "I Can't Live." Their eventual merging as one complete song ("Without You") was conceived by Pete and Tom during the month of November when The Iveys were a three-piece group, before transitioning to Badfinger when Joey Molland officially joined.

Essay by Tom Brennan

Some background information is from Dan Matovina's Badfinger biography, "Without You - The Tragic Story of Badfinger."

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